Catholic teaching is more nuanced than simply relying on Scripture; it is a three legged stool of Scripture, Traditions, and the Magisterium – or teaching authority – of the Church. With the buzz about the abdication of Pope Benedict, there is a buzz about the very legitimacy of the office of the Pope. The Citizen tackles this – and the failings of the heterodoxy of Protestantism – in this essay.

Number of Views :2220Today’s Gospel is one I’ve always enjoyed hearing – it gives me a taste of the sheer joy that is Christmas for Christians. Today, it served a different purpose. For some time, the Citizen has been concerned about a schism not only among Catholics but Christians as a whole – and that…

Proportionate reasoning is a little-known tool we can employ to evaluate the best course to take when no course is clearly a good choice. Learn how it can serve as a moral compass to help us make the best decision in this year’s presidential election in this essay.

Number of Views :2704The Citizen is told that Cardinal Dolan is a nice guy. I’m willing to believe that. I am told that he is highly educated in the Faith – I would hope so. I am also told that he knows exactly what he is doing by inviting Mr. Obama to the Al Smith…

The United States is waging two active wars, a third global war against global terrorism, and we have assumed the lead in a massive air campaign in Libya. As Catholics, what are we to think of war? Isn’t violence always wrong? Shouldn’t we be ‘turning the other cheek’?
Not always – St. Thomas Aquinas gave us some tools to help us determine the right and wrong of force.

Number of Views :3099First and foremost, the Citizen wishes to apologize for the spelling in the title. It was an attempt to recapture that drawl of the fundamentalist who has been indoctrinated to think of Catholicism as a cult. The nuances of that phrase has stuck with me for better than two decades. With the…